Encouraging Quality & Discouraging Abuse

Visiting Nurse Associations of America (VNAA) the official national association for Visiting Nurse Agencies (VNAs) and nonprofit, community-based home healthcare agencies (HHAs) has released a white paper on Medicare fraud and abuse titled “Medicare Home Health: Encouraging Quality and Discouraging Abuse” during the week of March 2.
In early 2008 I was invited to participate with the VNAA in preparing this important document, the purpose of which is to raise awareness among the general public and policymakers of the sources of fraud and abuse in the home healthcare field and to contribute useful suggestions for reform of the Medicare home health benefit. Recommendations for reform include changes in payment policy, Medicare Conditions of Participation (CoP), Medicare home health enrollment procedures, medical review and anti-kick back rules.

Andy Carter, President and CEO of VNAA, wrote, “While most home health agencies (HHAs) provide high-quality home healthcare and comply with Medicare policy, abusive and even fraudulent conduct by a minority of Medicare certified HHAs threatens the quality of patient care, drives up Medicare costs and undermines the perceived value of home healthcare. This comprehensive document was developed with input from specific VNAA membership committees and was vetted on a broader scale through a membership wide survey conducted in October, 2008. Since then, it was presented to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services’ (CMS) staff in a December, 2008, meeting and shared with the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPAC) in January, 2009.”

“It’s particularly important to raise these issues to ensure patients are able to get and receive high-quality care. Across the board payment reductions to the Medicare Home Health Program could result in limiting patient access to good clinical care,” stated Bob Wardwell, VNAA’s Vice President of Regulatory and Public Affairs.

I invite and encourage you to read this important document, and to support the efforts of the not-for-profit agencies whose efforts in the provision of ethical, high quality care, must continue. With the new Administration’s proposed changes to the federal budget, it is critical that our legislators understand the potential negative impact to the provision of home health and hospice services, which will result if there are further cuts to the Medicare and Medicaid programs for home health and hospice care. “We believe the timing for releasing these recommendations is right. With so many proposals addressing changes and cuts to the Medicare system we wanted to highlight the importance of staying focused on quality of care in the home healthcare system,” added Carter.

Read this important White Paper by CLICKING HERE